Should You Buy on Black Friday or Skip It?

Welcome to the Personal Finance Roundtable, where we tackle some controversial money questions with the help of our favorite personal finance bloggers, once a month.

In the days of King Arthur, the roundtable signified the place where consequential ideas were discussed – hopefully over good food and good drinks. While we don’t yet have virtual food and drinks, we can at least create a place to discuss important topics related to your finances and get a wide range of viewpoints. So, without further ado, this month’s question is…

Should You Buy on Black Friday or Skip It?

Philip from PT Money: “The way I recommend using Black Friday is for getting a good deal on that thing you’ve been planning to buy already. Avoid letting the Black Friday hype influence your spending decisions. Don’t forget to look both offline and online for that special deal.”

Ben from Money Smart Life: “I think Black Friday can be a good time to save money if you have something you already need and can find a good deal on it (not an impulse purchase). The last few years I’ve found Black Friday offers on some of these Christmas shopping deals sites so I didn’t have to stand in lines and brave the crowds. I’ve also had good luck with the email deals from Newegg.com for tech purchases.”

Mrs. PoP from Planting Our Pennies: “I’ll never forget the year we did Black Friday to get my younger cousins Furbies The early morning of shopping was totally worth it when their wishes came true on Christmas. But I think those days are gone. Now you don’t have to brave the crowds and can often find good deals many other days or even online. But if you do want to venture out, make sure to translate “door buster” as “loss leader” and stick to your list of sale items.”

Greg from Club Thrifty: “I say skip it. Black Friday is not what it used to be. Now, you can get great deals at the stores both before and after Black Friday. Better yet, stay home, avoid the hassle, and shop online during Cyber Monday instead.”

Carrie from Careful Cents: “Skipping Black Friday is not only safer for you but smarter for your wallet. Yes, sometimes you can get a good deal on a gift for someone, but there’s a high chance you’ll see another item on sale and buy it too. Which could make you overspend, completely negating the purpose of Black Friday in the first place.”

Dominique from Your Finances Simplified: “I believe you should buy on Cyber Monday instead of Black Friday or shop online. The savings on Black Friday isn’t worth the hassle of dealing with long lines on Black Friday.”

Elle from Couple Money: “If you have a particular gadget you’d like to get, I say check out the Black Friday sales online. Sometimes you may surprise yourself with the prices you can find. Our digital camera broke this summer so we were looking for a replacement. By shopping around this month we found a great deal. Plus we avoided the Black Friday rush. However if you’re just looking to grab stuff, then I would pass – too much stress at the stores for me. ”

Miranda from Planting Money Seeds: “Skip it! At the very least, do your shopping from the comfort of your home. You can find many of the same deals online, with free shipping. Why spend the time (something you can never get back) fighting crowds and standing on line when you can stay home and be toasty warm, surrounded by family and leftovers?”

What about you? Tell us in the comments whether you plan to buy on Black Friday or skip it!

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This post was published by Ben, Content Manager and Writer for » ReadyForZero.
ReadyForZero is a company that helps people get out of debt on their own with a simple and free online tool that can automate and track your debt paydown.

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